68 METAMORPHOSES OF 



of the pupa are protruded from the cocoon when the moth 

 emerges. 



The caterpillars seem very liable to disease, for I have 

 observed that a great number die in the cocoon without 

 pupation taking place. 



XL. — Megalopyge Tharops. 



Phalcena B. Tharops, Cramer, Pap. Exot. iv., pi. 359, fig. a. ? . 



Hydrias Tharops, Walker, Catal. Lep. Het. Brit. Mus. vi., 



p. 1404. 



f a, Full-fed. San Paulo, March, 1878, and 

 ^^^^^- 1 earlier stage, March, 1881. 



This remarkable caterpillar feeds upon the guava tree, and 

 is found full-fed in March and April. It is covered with 

 long partridge-coloured hairs, which are drawn together into 

 a grotesque curl at the posterior end of the caterpillar. The 

 abdominal feet are very slightly developed, and the motion 

 is more gliding than walking. At the tubercles from which 

 the long hairs spring there are clusters of highly venomous 

 spines, the urticating properties of which are very great. 

 (See fig. 19, plate VI.) 



(a, Full-fed, March 14, 1878 ; Imago, Jan. 29, 

 Pupa. { 1879 = 321 days. 



The cocoon is remarkable for the beautiful way in which 

 the caterpillar adapts it to the surface it has chosen for it. 

 One specimen in my possession spun on a twig of the guava 

 he had been feeding upon, and he arranged his cocoon so per- 

 fectly round the twig, and ornamented it with little bits of 

 bark so well, that at a short distance it looked exactly like a 

 thickening of the twig. Others spun on the sides of the box, 



